2.7 Linear Feet, Summary: 2 ft. 7 3/4 in. (2 record cartons, 15 in. each); (1 oversize folder, 1/4 in.); (1 artifact box,
1 1/2 in.)
Creator
Goff family
Location
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown,
WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English
Abstract
Papers of the Goff family of Harrison County, West Virginia. This collection is minimally processed. Includes the papers of
Nathan Goff III, grandson of Nathan Goff Jr. (1843-1920), as well as his daughter Laura Ellen Goff Fireman (later Davis).
Also includes correspondence of Howard Caplan, the Administrator of the Estate of Nathan Goff III, and H. Dotson Cather, the
brother-in-law of Mrs. Goff Fireman Davis who may have been involved in Goff's estate. Formats in the collection include correspondence,
ephemera, programs, invitations, plats, photographs, clippings, and much more. Nathan Goff's correspondence includes mostly
business but also some family and personal correspondence. Correspondence includes both incoming and typescript copies of
outgoing letters, as well as a few cards and telegrams. Subjects include mines, farming, livestock (especially sheep and horses,
with special concentration of Clydesdale material), politics, land, wells, oil and gas leases, Citizens Publishing Company,
the Waldo Hotel, the Nicholas Land Company, West Virginia Consolidated Coal Company and its Hardman Mine, Illinois State Fair,
engineering, books, finances, and more. Mrs. Goff Fireman Davis's correspondence mainly concerns her father's estate. There
are also two folders of material pertaining to Nathan Goff Jr., mostly correspondence and financial information (box 1, folders
17-18, 1884-1919). See Historical Note for additional information.
Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.
Conditions Governing Access
Requires signed form, since special access restriction applies.
Preferred Citation
[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Goff Family of Harrison County, West Virginia Papers, A&M 4202, West
Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.
Nathan Goff III (1907-1961) was the son of Waldo Percy Goff and grandson of Congressman Nathan Goff Jr. (1843-1920).
Nathan Goff III appears to have married Catherine Osborn Goff, and with her had two daughters, Diana Despard Goff (b. 1929)
and Laura Ellen Goff (b. ca. 1932). Nathan and Catherine divorced ca. 1941.
Nathan Goff III may have later married a Thelma R. Goff (according to a June 1948 deed) and Mary Catherine Goff (1956 and
1958 deeds).
Diana Goff married Harold Dotson Cather in 1951.
Laura Ellen Goff later married someone named Fireman, then married and later divorced Shelley G. Davis.
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